Stradling Funeral Home Ephrata Pa (2024)

FAQs

Who owns the biggest funeral home? ›

Service Corporation International is proud to be North America's leading provider of funeral, cremation and cemetery services. Since 1962, SCI has been serving families during their most difficult, personal and challenging times.

Bucktrout Funeral Home is the oldest funeral home in America, and it is still functioning even today! It was first started in 1759, and originally operated as a cabinet-making business.

Service Corporation International (SCI) is the largest funeral home company in the world, with a network of over 2,000 locations across the United States and Canada.

Pennsylvania has some 1800 funeral homes, around 1000 cemeteries and memorial parks, and some 500 crematories. So, it can be quite a task to choose a funeral home or cremation provider.

A fraud inquiry has begun into the funeral plan provider Safe Hands, which collapsed leaving thousands of people with lost savings. Some 46,000 people had paid into a fund towards future funeral costs.

If the human remains are properly preserved they can be stored for longer periods of time. In most cases, so long as the remains are properly refrigerated, funeral homes can store a body for a few days to a few weeks.

This American tradition of hosting funerals in the family parlor is the genesis of the term “funeral parlor.” In more wealthy homes, a false (death) door was place off the parlor. It led outside to remove a deceased family member.

The first evidence of cremation in the archaeological record dates to 20,000 B.C. in Mungo Lake, Australia. In the Middle East and Europe, there is evidence of cremation as early as the Neolithic period (9500 B.C).

Casket. A casket is often the most expensive item that factors into the average funeral cost.

1. Alexander the Great- $600 millionThis ancient Macedon king who presided over the largest empire in the world from the Ionian Sea to the Himalayas enjoyed the most expensive funeral till date. He passed away in 323 BC and was placed in Gold Casket and transported in a gold carriage pulled by 60 horses.

What is the average cost of a funeral in PA? ›

Pennsylvania Funeral Costs: Pennsylvania has some of the highest average funeral costs in the country at $8,100 and $7,500, respectively.

There are no state laws in Pennsylvania prohibiting home burial, but local governments may have rules governing private burials. Before burying a body on private property or establishing a family cemetery, you should check with the county or town clerk for any zoning laws you must follow.